Hello, My new book, "The Bloody Vendetta of Southern Illinois" is now finished and going to the printers Monday. It's an expanded and updated edition of Milo Erwin's writings on the Vendetta published in 1876 as part of his larger "History of Williamson County, Illinois." I've taken Erwin's chapters on criminals and the Bloody Vendetta and added additional materials on the Ku Klux Klan activities, trials that he didn't cover, and the trials and murders that took place after he wrote his book, or took place later in the 19th Century by the next generation of some of the families involved in the Vendetta. The new book is a 6 x 9 trade paperback with 240 pages that's roughly half Erwin's 1876 account and half new material, including some connections between the murders and Klan activitities never before seen in print. Although Erwin wrote about the events as part of his history on Williamson County many of the killings and trials actually took place in Jackson County and the Klan seemed to have been led out of Franklin County. The major families involved included the Sisney, Henderson and Russell families on one side and the Crain, Bulliner and Hinchcliff families on the other side. Other individuals implicated in the violence included Samuel Musick, Allen Baker, James Norris, Timothy Cagle, William Spence, Wesley Council, David Pleasant, and Gordon "Texas Jack" Clifford. Victims of the Klan included the Vancil, Carter and Maddox families in particular. The book also lists members of the Klan arrested and tried as well as others who attended some of the public meetings. It also covers how the Franklin County sheriff used "lead poisoning" as a means to rid the county of the Klan as part of a successful attempt to infiltrate the Klan and set up an ambush. Because I tried to tie up some of the loose ends and provided additional information that Erwin left there are also chapters on the Aiken Gang which terrorized the region during the Civil War and the hiliariously inept Jennings Gang of Oklahoma whose leaders grew up in Marion during the Vendetta. The book is fully indexed, and includes hundreds of names. This spate of violence mostly in the decade following the Civil War in the early to mid 1870s is best remembered as the first chapter in Paul Angle's Bloody Williamson. If you enjoy reading about the region's sordid past and the efforts by local leaders to clean up the region, you should enjoy this book. The book is priced at $14.95 and I'm doing a PRE-ORDER SPECIAL for orders made before August 18 (which is when I expect the books to be ready). Any PRE-ORDER will receive FREE SHIPPING and I'll cover the sales tax for Illinois residents. To order securely online go to www.IllinoisHistory.com/books/bloodyvendetta.html. You can also order with a check or money order made out to IllinoisHistory.com and sent through the mail to this address: IllinoisHistory.com PO Box 1142 Marion IL 62959 Sincerely, Jon Musgrave IllinoisHistory.com